Date with a Rockstar by Sarah Gagnon [ARC]

Monet has a disease called Fluxem but she’s too poor to afford the $20,000 cure. Her only hope is to get onto a reality TV show for a chance to date teen heartthrob singer Jeremy Bane–and win $30,000. After taxes she’ll have almost all of the money that she needs for the cure. What Monet doesn’t count on is how she’s starting to feel about Jeremy.

Just to start, I’m a BIG sucker for books about people competing in reality TV shows. I don’t know why, but I love it. This book was really up my alley. Reality TV show plus a little romance? Perfect. Right off the bat, we were struck by how completely ordinary Monet is. It’s stressed to the reader over and over. But then, she gets selected to be on this TV show. As a reader I’m just like…what? But she’s so ordinary (especially when compared to the other girls). It just seemed improbable that she would actually get chosen based on the information we’re given as a reader. The only reason we’re given is that one of the answers that she gave during her interview was really good. One answer? Is that all it takes?

One thing I did like about the book is that Monet readily admits that she finds Jeremy attractive and has a fangirl crush on him. The “girl doesn’t like celebrity, girl gets to know celebrity, girl likes celebrity” theme is a little overdone and also doesn’t seem wholly realistic. It was refreshing that Monet liked Jeremy and thought there was depth to his songs. Jeremy was an okay character…a little too perfect for my tastes. There was never really any conflict between Monet and Jeremy and because of that their relationship felt a little flat. The other girls were also pretty one note. None of them felt very developed and I feel like more things could have been explained to us. Like the girl with the purple contacts? Why? Is it Jeremy’s favorite color or something? Who knows? It’s just a random detail that’s mentioned several times but is never explained.

The ending was…satisfying but not. I thought that everything got wrapped up a little too nicely. *Spoiler* Monet basically ends up being taken care of by Jeremy. It’s not the fact that Jeremy takes care of Monet that’s my issue, it’s that it basically all happens off-camera while she’s unconscious. It’s almost like her fairy godmother came while she was unconscious and waved her magic wand and made everything better. Also, her little friendship with Praline at the end didn’t feel genuine. There wasn’t really anything leading up to that and so it felt really random and just thrown in so Monet would have someone to talk to at the end. *End Spoiler* So…the ending maybe could have used some reworking, but I’m not complaining too much.

Overall, I liked the book quite a bit because of the reality TV show element so I’m probably giving it more stars than it actually deserves. The plot and characters were a bit flat and conflicts were resolved a little too easily. But it’s an easy read that you won’t have to get too emotionally involved in.